Steve’s Blog

I don’t nornally repost blog articles, but this one is so good and exactly what I would say myself, if J Lee Grady hadn’t written it frist (Lee I am jealous you beat me to it.)  I trust God will encourage your heart.  This is exactly what the Second reformation is all about.

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There is a new doctrine in the wind today. Well,  not really new in the strictest sense of the word, but new in the sense that it is resurfacing and rapidly gaining ground in numerous circles.  It is the doctrine of sanctification.  But not as you normally think of it.  What is being preached today is not the sanctification of the sinner, but rather the sanctification of sin.

By definition the term “sanctify” means to “make holy.”  In practical application it means to be set apart for specific or limited use.

A theology called Universalism is making great headway in the church today and, while they would not come right out and say it, they are preaching the sanctification of sin.  Oh not in so many words, but certainly in effect.  Universalism finds a number of different expressions and it would be tough and wrong  to pigeonhole everyone into one category.  But let’s look at some of what is being taught.

The liberal branch of the church simply appeals to God’s forgiveness of sin as if forgiveness means the same thing as condoning.  These thoughts especially applies to sexuality and immorality.  People in this camp simply sanctify sin by the act of forgiveness.  It sounds like this, “Oh, God loves us and forgives us so it is alright to continue our sinful lifestyle because, after all, we are forgiven.” 

Since when did forgiveness equate to sanction?  Let’s look at it this way.  If I borrowed $500 from you and didn’t pay it back you might forgive me, but I am pretty sure you wouldn’t say, “yeah that’s okay, do it again.”  People who follow this line of thought forget a few things. 

First if you needed forgiveness in the first place  you already acknowledge that what you were doing was wrong. Right?  If not then there is no need for forgiveness and the silly argument that “after all Jesus forgives me,” is a moot point.  So by claiming forgiveness they are also admitting guilt.

Second is the fact that Jesus (the guy everyone wants to quote as so loving  and forgiving) said to a woman caught in adultery, “go and sin no more.”  Yes He did forgive her, but He did not sanction her sin.  He absolved her of guilt and mitigated the punishment that she should have gotten (death by stoning – not to mention hell), but there is no indication that she could continue in adultery and be okay.  Jesus indicates the opposite.  The bottom line is that forgiveness does not justify sin, only the sinner.

Another theological position is gaining acceptance today also – to the detriment of hundreds of thousands of souls.  This is the minimizing of sin.  It sounds like this: “Sin isn’t that big of a deal, after all Jesus died on the cross.  We need to stop causing strife, division and political turmoil by being critical and judgmental and just emphasize what Jesus emphasized – love one another.  After all when you say someone is sinning it is not very loving.”

This group misses the point altogether.  Oftenthis attitude  is in reaction to “Christians” (and I use the term loosely) who are critical, condemning and judgmental.  Shame on those folks.  However, because there are legalistic religious folk who really don’t understand the nature of God and the Holy Spirit does not mean that you can simply do away with loving reproof.  A parent who tells their kid not to play in the street isn’t considered a bad parent (well maybe today with the lunacy that exists in the child welfare system – but that is beside the point.) The point is that not to warn someone who is doing something that could bring serious harm to their body, soul and spirit is the worst form of neglect. 

Why do the police have D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness and Resistance) Programs?  Why does MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have nationwide backing?  Are not these socially acceptable programs telling people they some things are wrong and dangerous and that people don’t need to be doing them?  It is okay as long as you don’t add a moral (read that God) aspect to them.  They are social ills, not moral issues.  Once you call it a moral issue you step into the religious realm and the whole thing changes.  Someone once joked that there should be a group called DAMM (Drunks Against Mad Mothers).   No doubt a bunch of folks would join.

I know people who do not want to hear that their drug or alcohol or gambling issue  is causing problems for  them and  their families.   They get angry when confronted by people who care and want to help.  Psychologically we call this denial.  Is it any different when a concerned Christian tells someone their sin could cause eternal problems for them – not just temporal ones?  Is the world not in denial, Refusing to admit what others see?

Another, newer version of the sanctification of sin is to really deny it all together.  I got a blog article a couple of weeks ago from a man I consider a friend.  He’s started down the slippery slope of  Universalism.  He made the comment that our problem is not a fallen nature (that man did not fall into sin and is therefore basically corrupt and in need of forgiveness) but rather a religious lie we’ve been told (you have a fallen nature and must repent) that keeps us from seeing that we were created in God’s image and are therefore right with God.

In this point of view all the talk about sin is hindering men from recognizing who they really are.  So it doesn’t really matter who or what you are or do.  We just need to realize that we were created in God’s image.  If this is true why did Jesus die?  If there was no fall and man has no sin nature he needs no savior.

And finally, the attack on truth is coming in the form of a minimizing of hell.  Since hell is considered the ultimate punishment for sin, then to minimize it is to minimize sin.  The only way to make light of hell is to make light of sin.  This line of reasoning seeks to minimize judgment and/or recompense.  This group seems to think God is bi-polar.  They have a hard time accepting His full, true nature as perfectly loving and perfectly righteous.  One part of the church only emphasizes His righteous nature and tends to judgment and punishment, using threats of damnation to bring people to Jesus and keep them in line.  The other (and equally wrong) extreme is to over emphasize God’s loving nature to the point of overriding His righteousness.  God is loving, but He is still righteous and all the love in the world won’t change that. 

The tension between the righteous nature and the loving nature of God is what makes God the God of the Bible. Can you imaging a loving God without righteousness.  Or worse, a righteous God without love?  His complete nature causes Him to reach out and offer forgiveness to mankind.  Most civilized societies are based on the 10 commandments.  American law certainly is.  Or have we forgotten it is illegal to lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc.?  People who want to do away with righteousness do not want to do away with laws that protect society.  The same Bible that said “don’t steal and kill” also said, “don’t commit adultery.”  We accept and even expect justice to be served in civil matters.  While a person may oppose the death penalty, I am sure that same person would not want a serial killer or rapist on the street.  Justice and punishment of some kind must exist in civil affairs.  Why is it so hard to believe that the God of all the universe may require a just and righteous accounting of sin?

The good news is that God does justify sinners through faith in Christ.  But he does not just forgive them and leave them to continue to struggle with sin.  The gospel was not just the forgiveness of sin, but the power over sin through the Holy Spirit.  The sanctification of the sinner starts with salvation, delivering us from the  penalty of sin – giving us imputed righteousness, so God can work in our lives.  It continues throughout our lives delivering us from the power of sin – giving us experiencial righteousness so we can experience the presence of God.  In its final manifestation it delivers us from the very presence of sin by bringing us to the “new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness.”

There is a big difference between the sanctification of the sinner and the sanctification of sin.  I revert to Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.”

The thematic verse for this blog is in Jude, “Earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”  As I look around today I see a serious onslaught of religious deception. 

Jesus told us this would happen.  In Matthew 24 He said three times not to be deceived; and that if it were possible even the truly elect would be deceived.  Paul, Peter, Jude, John and James also warned us of perilous times and great deception in the last days.  In II ThessaloniansGod even says He will send “strong delusion” on the world and those that “would not receive the love of the truth.  Perhaps it is time we take these warnings seriously and examine what’s happening in the church today?

I find the attacks coming in the form of “Isms.”  Things like tribalism, liberalism,  legalism, fundamentalism, modernism, secularism, universalism and political-ism (okay I had to push this one a bit to get the Ism in, but it is a serious threat that needs to be discussed.)

Tribalism is the “us verses them” mentality.  The “our tribe verses your tribe” mindset. It chops the Body of Christ up and supports disunity.  It is most commonly seen as denominationalism.  As church membership declines in most denominations this tribalism can become a real stumbling block to the unity of the Body of Christ.  Churches need to work together to reach their communities for Christ.  Unfortunately accomplishing anything spiritual is often difficult because of so many disagreements on how a joint service or event might be handled.  Things like the type of worship, or the way the gospel is presented or the type of altar call.  Trying to get several churches to work together within the framework of their pet ideas is tough.  The world suffers because of this.

Modernism:  I see a serious attack today against the authority of the Bible.  This attack is coming in several ways. The most prominent is the “bible contains the word of God but is not the world of God” theology.  This means that man wrote it and therefore it simply has no authority.  Glean the good stuff and don’t worry about the negative.  However a more subtle and increasingly popular idea to reframe the Bible in an way that makes Biblical writers present God according to their own superstitious world view.  The Old Testament writers were tribal and they had tribal deities that watched over their particular worshippers.  The Israelites tribal god was Jehovah – no different from the Canaanites tribal gods like Moloch, Baal and others.  Of course at the time of Christ paganism abounded with firm belief in what we today call mythology.  Relatively few pagans exist today that still worship Zeus, Ares and the other “titans”.  However liberal thinkers point to the fact that all deities of the day interacted with humans and produced half-god, half-human offspring.  So, they say, Jesus is no different, just another myth that hung on long after the others fell pray to modernism.  Modern people, they say, no longer believe the old fairy tails and archaic religion of a mean God with a half-human son.   Jesus was about love, not judgement so let’s just forget all the “righteousness stuff” and accept anything that makes others happy.

Liberalism promotes a Christianity without the Spirit or the power of God.  It is a humanistic approach to God well grounded in social concerns and good will toward all man kind.  The danger of course is that we don’t really need to be saved and filled with the Spirit.  The supernatural aspect of God is not only downplayed, but denied.  Paul warned young pastor Timothy about those who ”having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn away.”  II Timothy 3:5.  The world godliness means a religious attitude and character, while the word power is dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite.  It is the power to move things.  Liberalism wants the things of God in a nice tidy doable package that does not require God.

Fundamentalism is religious zeal that tries to force itself on others.  The fundamentalist says, “I am right and everyone is is wrong and are damned for it.  There are all kinds of fundamentalists.  Islamic fundamentalism can often result in terrorism.  Christian fundamentalism results in trying to force a Christian worldview on the nation through political means.  Fundamentalism does not represent everyone in the particular faith, although they are often the most vocal and get the most attention.  Not all Muslims are fundamentalist terrorists.  Not all Christians are fundamentalist right wing, politically oriented believers.  Fundamentalism hurts the true message of God by focusing on secondary issues of abortion or gay rights.  Please do think I think either of those things are right – I don’t; it is just that to battle on those issues, without discretion and compassion thus  alienating people from the real message of Christ is to miss the point of the gospel.  What if we save a baby and both mother and baby go to hell?  What have we accomplished?)  We will never force people to believe or be moral through subjection.

Secularism simply wants to force God out of everyday life and into the home or church where it belongs – according to them.  We see this in our schools and now governments.  Secularism puts the pressure on people to keep religion private and out of the public eye.  It is anti-evangelism.

Universalism is on the fast track again.  Popular books like The Shack and other influential writers are promoting a theology called Universalism.  Universalism, in a nut shell, basically says Jesus died for everyone so in the end everyone will be saved.  The extreme brand of Universalism, Ultimate Reconciliation, teaches that even satan will be reconciled to God in the end.  Universalism’s appeal is that it  on God’s love for everyone.  After all who doesn’t want a loving God?  Forgiveness comes without repentance and the Christian relationship without discipline or character.  After all if we all make it int he end why bother living a Christian life?  This doctrine is more insidious than it seems and is affecting many people today – even if they do not know it by its theological name.

Political-ism seeks to enforce a certain religious viewpoint through political power, be it in the church or secular government.  Good old modern fundamentalists cringe in fear when they hear a news story about Islamic fundamentalists wanting to force a country and all of its people to adopt Islamic religious law as the law of the land.  Yet they will do the exact same thing in America.   It is the idea that America is like Old Testament Israel and if we can just make enough Christian laws God will bless us.  The problem is that there are no Christian nations** – only Christian people.  If America was birthed with Christianity it was because she had Christians, not Christian laws.  The old cliche is that you can not legislate morality.  This is true.  We would be much better off going door to door handing out gospel tracts than pamphlets for our favorite political candidate.  When will the church learn that political power will not save a soul.  Yet if we save a soul we will probably get that person to follow in the moral lifestyle we promoted in the first place. 

The Church- read that individual Christians – will have t deal with these issues more and more   coming days.  If there ever Was a time to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints,” it is today.

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Addendum

**I find it interesting that so many Christians want to call America  Christian nation when in fact the things that have historically defined us have been anything but Christian:

1. From the 1600′s through 1865 we were a nation built upon the backs of forced slave labor.  In 1865 the official census numbered 7 million slaves.
2. Through the mid to late 1800′s the US government lied to and broken every treaty we made with Native Americans, stealing their lands and forcing them onto reservations.  The result was poverty, alcoholism, and abuse.  Our Christian government’s solution: Give them gambling casinos.
3. The 1920′s were know as the “Roaring Twenties” when liberalism, alcohol, modernism and immorality flourished after having been keep somewhat in check for some time.   The 18th Amendment outlawing alcohol was ratified in 1919.  This lead to wide spread organized crime and general civil disobedience as most Americans ignored the law.  Prohibition has the distinction of being the only constitutional amendment to ever be repealed  This era in American History lead to the depression of the 30′s. 
4. The 1950′s were years marked by growing  materialism, so much so that the younger generation rebelled in the late 50′s and through the 60s.
5. Don’t forget that Christian America existed for over 140 years before women could vote or hold office.  It was nearly200 years before we stepped up to the plate with basic civil rights for blacks.
6. The 1960s was earmarked by the 1968 “Summer of love”, when rebellion, sexual freedom and drug use reached a crescendo. 
7. Abortion was legalized in 1973 and through 2008 50,000,000 legal abortions took place.  You can add several more million in the last 3 years. Today
8. Today millions of Americans are suffering from mental illnesses, addictions to illegal drugs, pharmaceuticals, nicotine and alcohol.  Divorce is at a all time high and second and third marriages are the norm.  Our materialism, resulting in a misuse of credit has brought our nation to a brink of economic collapse.

While America has always had a Christian face, and is still the best nation in the world for freedom and opportunity she has rarely, as a nation, been characterized by Christian conduct.

Tags: fundamentalism, liberalism, modernism, tribalism, universalism

If the United States has produced anything it has produced a generation of individuals who are bent on personalization.  Individuality (literally personalization)  is the battle cry of the modern American.  “Tricked out” or “pimped” is the official slang for it today.

From the time we were little we personalized our stuff.  I remember “tricking out” my old used bicycle when I was 8 or 9.  I bought a horn, a flag, a mirror, and spoke covers.  Later it was my first car with pinstripes, stereo (8 track folks – my first car stereo was an 8 track), CB radio (with a “handle” or call sign – mine was The Golden Eagle.), etc. Today it is not enough to have a phone or a computer, you have to be able to customize it to fit your personality and lifestyle.  Brooke just bought an iPad and it is custom engraved with your own personalized quotation on the front.

You can buy a three pack of different colored covers for your cell phone .  And, don’t even get me started on ring tones.  Every single person has a ringtone that screams, “I am unique and this ringtone tells the whole world (at least those unfortunae enough to be within listening range), “this is who I am.”  Customization on our computers are nearly infinite with wallpapers, backgrounds, color themes, screen savers, etc.  All this serves to feed the individuality beast residing in each of us.

I am wondering if our lust for individuality (personalization) is always such a good thing.  There are some things we can personalize that don’t matter and there are other things we should be careful about personalizing. 

While God is a “personal God,” I think we often take the idea of personalizing our Christianity to suit our own needs, temperament and personality (not to mention lifestyle and time obligations) a bit too far at times.  This results in a Christianity that stops working the way it should.  Too often we are too busy to notice until a crisis takes place and we need it to work.

We’ve all had devices that quit working properly—phones,  computers, DVD players, etc.  Most of these items come with a reset button or a “restore default” setting.  On occasion, after too much personalization, we need to hit the reset button to get us back to the starting point where things worked correctly again.  

I think the same thing needs to happen spiritually at times.  We go through our Christian lives doing this and that.  Tweaking and learning and doing and believing this doctrine or that principle.  Then all of a sudden we are startled to discover our lives really are not working the way we want them too.  Relationships are messed up.  Prayers don’t get answered.  Our church life is unfulfilling.  Fill in the blank!

Oh, we’re busy for sure.   We go to church, pray, read our bible and basically do the stuff, but there is something missing.  It is time to hit the spiritual reset button.

Americans customize their Christianity with a their favorite Bible version, their favorite teachers or teaching, and their “brand” of church.  We get involved in ministries that interest us. We give our money when and where it pleases us. We go to the meetings that best suit us and pick the programs that are most convenient.  We tend to personalize our Christian lives to meet our own needs and desires, not those of God or the others around us.

Without a doubt many, many Christians are faced with the need to hit the reset button on their faith and get back to some basics that work.

In II Corinthians 11:3 Paul shares this concern about the Corinthian believers, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

He shares this same concen with the Galatians church, so it must be a legitimate point of struggle for Christians.  ”I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel…”  Gal 1:6

In all of our complicated personalization we sometimes mess the thing up to the point where it doesn’t work right anymore.  This is true of electronics and spirituality.

Perhaps you are wondering just what I mean by “hitting the spiritual reset button?” Or maybe you realize that I have just described you and you’re wondering how to do it.

Activity is not a substitute for relationship in God’s Kingdom.  God is still God, Lord and Master and Jesus is still the reason, not just for the season, but for everything.  Hitting the spiritual reset button means getting back to real relationship with Christ through prayer and the word.  It means putting God back at the center of our lives.  It may mean less activity and more silence, for a season.  Less glory and more humility for a time.  For many, it may means getting back to spiritual basics and reestablishing some fundamental spiritual principles  in their lives.

There is one problem with hitting  the reset button though.  We often lose many of the “personalized settings” we have grown to cherish.  The “default setting” on most devices is not as glamorous or exciting or flashy; and it may look a lot like everyone else’s—but it works!

A few months ago I had to hit the spiritual reset button in my life.  I had to stop doing some of the ministry things I loved and frankly were fruitful for the kingdom of God.  Lives were being touched and changed by the Spirit of God and it was hard to lay those things down.  Honestly, sometimes I still feel a bit guilty that I am doing less.  However it was absolutely necessary for me to step back, because it was not producing good things in my life. 

I highly recommend the occassional reset.  I have discovered both in my life and in observing those around me, theat if we don’t voluntarily hit the reset button on occassion, life tends to do it for us.  At least when we do it we are understanding a little of the process, instead of wondering why we are left with a spiritual crash and not knowing what to do about it.

Do you needs to hit the reset button in some area of your life?

Perhaps the photo below has some wisdom beyond the gender issue????

Tags: Revival, Spiritual Renewal

I have the unique ability to find spiritual  inspiration in the oddest places. Last week I bought a pair of Docker khakis.  The words “One Leg at a Time” was printed on the inside waistband.  And here for over 50 years I have struggled every morning to “jump” into my pants.

Of course it was a reference to the cliche that no matter how tough a guy is he still has to put his pants on one leg at a time.  The saying reminds us that we all suffer a common malady called “humanness.” It accentuates the reality that, regardless of our diverse cultures, life experiences, strength, educational status and personal goals, there is still something that unites us all in our humanity, our oneness and our limitations.

I bet you didn’t know that you could get all of that   pair of Khakis ($65 on sale for $12.  Revelation and savings – God is good.)

It is really time that Christians looked at this issue of our common humanity more seriously.  We are quick to use the scripture, “you are fearfully and wonderfully made,” in context of the struggle against abortion.  Is that scripture equally valid for Muslims, Communists, gays, blacks, North Koreans and the maraid of “others” who are different from us, or is it just unborn babies and Christians that God has made in His own image?

Unfortunately a common struggle of our common humanity is dualism.  The “us” verses “them” syndrome.  It is promoted in school spirit.  Remember the pep rallies and games where the other town and team were our enemies because we lived 20 miles apart?    That dualism progressed as we got older.  No matter which side you were on you were an “us” or a “them.”  Democrats and the Republicans.  Americans and the pinko commie Russians.   Whites and blacks or Hispanic, labor or management.

Dualism exists in many forms.  Today it is surfacing as Christians and Muslims.  The church needs to be careful about this.  It is this dualism that fueled the ill-conceived crusades.  The crusades were not ordained by God.  It was religious people worshipping a doctrine of dualism, not spiritually mature Christians, that came up with the idea of the crusades.

This is not to say that some things are not wrong.  I don’t believe in abortion or the gay lifestyle.  I don’t think the Muslim religion is correct in its understanding or approach to God.  However that does not give me the right to fall into the human trap of dualism – us verses them.  This IS NOT the Spirit of God.

One day the disciples told Jesus they saw a guy casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  The forbid him because “he wasn’t one of our group.”  How often we do this?  They don’t worship like we do, or have the same doctrine.  They are not one of our group so we can’t let them do any thing for God.  Today we would call the this denominationalism and we promote it as spiritual stuff.

We again see this dualism is a more drastic form among the discipes  when Jesus was headed to Jerusalem at the end of His ministry.  As they passed through Samaria the people did not receive Jesus.  James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven to consume the “others”.  Those folks that were just not getting it and not receiving Jesus like the disciples thought they should.  They were offended for Jesus’ sake and, by golly, they were gonna do something about it. Jesus rebuked them saying, “You do not know what Spirit you are of.”  Do we know what spirit we are of today?

Of course this dualism is often fueled by a misunderstanding of the nature of the the Old Testament.  The ultimate dualism was the Israelites attitude “we are God’s chosen people and every one else is not.”  That attitude has been picked up by the religionists trying to make the New Testament work like the Old Testament.  It does not work that way and will not work that way.  While it is true that some are saved and some are not – the issue is the attitude of the saved towards the lost.

When it comes to our need of a savior we all “put our pants on one leg at a time.”  We are all in need of the same thing.  Paul once reminded the Gentiles believers that they used to the the “others,” but were now included.  Perhaps the church needs to learn to offer the same grace to the “others” we find that are not like us.  I leave you with a scripture to meditate on – seriously.  Can you find dualism in this passage?  Or do you find a “one leg at a time” commonality?

“In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”  Ephesians 2:11-21

I’m glad God didn’t count me as a “them!” 

Radio minister Harold Camping has predicted (yet again) that God will judge the world starting on Saturday, May 21, 2011, with the world coming to an end on October 21, 2011.  Many people follow his teachings.  I am not sure why.  This is the same guy that wrote the book 88 Reasons Jesus could return in 1988 and when that didn’t happen he wrote 89 Reasons why Jesus could come in 1989.    Later he predicted Jesus would come in 94.  He now proclaims May 21, 2011 as judgement day with the words, “The Bible guarantees it.”  I am reminded of Jeff Foxworthy’s comedy routine, “Here’s your clue….”

I am pretty sure none of my readers are buying into this doctrine, but there are many people who have questions about the last days.  The discussion concerning the Mayan calendar ending on Dec 21, 2012, Camping’s prophecies and the popularity of the Left Behind novels (please note I said NOVELS) have created quite a bit of conversation and speculation. 

I think this is good for the church.  We need to be able to intelligently answer the questions that these non-biblical sources are raising.  Let’s face it, the Church has not gotten the world interested in the end of the world, but the media hype with the Mayan calendar has, so let’s take advantage of it.  The Bible tells us. “Be ready to give an answer to every person that asks the reason for the HOPE that is in you.” 

One significant prerequisite in this scripture is that Christians have hope.  Too often all I hear is doom and gloom from Christians.   Yes in the midst of the struggling economy and a world on the edge of war there is hope.  Jesus offers a hope of peace and forgiveness and abundant life.  He also offers hope beyond this world and this life.  Something Stephen Hawking doesn’t do.

The real point I want to make (as briefly as possible) is that God controls the end of the world – not man – not the devil – God.  The book of the Revelation (not Revelations) starts with these five words, “The revelation of Jesus Christ….”  It is not a revelation of the devil nor the tribulation, it is the Revelation of Jesus.  While men love to talk about the tribulation and the anti-Christ, the narrative of The Revelation is about  the absolute control that God has over the end time events revealed in the person and power of the Christ. 

If anything The Revelation should give us an absolute confidence in the supremacy and sovereignty of God.  There are four key messages in the Revelation: 1.  God is in control.  God has set the times and purposes to all end-time events and has set limits on what the anti-christ can and can’t do; 2. God will bring judgment on the earth in the last days for the purpose of eliciting a decision on the part of men to either finally accept or reject Him.  We are told that “multitudes who be saved out of the great tribulation.”  Far from just judgement and punishment, the last days are days of many souls being saved and much mercy being poured out; and 3. That those who remain unrepentant will face God’s wrath; 4. There really is a perfect world coming. 

Certainly some awesome and troublesome days lie in the future.  However I also believe some of the most glorious days of the church also lie just ahead.  God is a merciful God.  Too often God is portrayed as a judgmental God who just can’t hardly hold back his wrath and anger and is “chomping at the bit” to toast the earth and every wicked, rotten sinner in it.  I don’t believe this in any way shape or form.  There is a reality of judgment – you can not escape that fact if you are an honest Bible reader - however it is the last resort, not the first.  II Peter 3:9 tells us that God is holding back those days, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  Perhaps God is using the “foolishness of the world” to open men’s eye’s to the reality that some day life as we know it really will come to an end?  Is the church ready to provide real answers with power and conviction, driven by hope, not fear?  I think we need some adjustment for this to happen.

Far from just seeing the last days as God’s anger poured out, Christians should see it as the final effort of God to turn rebellious men to Himself that they might be saved.  We should see these days as an opportunity to lead people to the grace of God.  The bottom line of the last days is that God is in control. It does not matter what mankind thinks up or even what satan schemes.  Things will happen exactly the way God has predetermined for them to happen.

I love the song When He Returns by Bob Dylan.  Speaking of the second coming of Jesus, Dylan croons (warbles maybe) the last line of the song, ”every earthly plan, that be known to man, He is unconcerned,  He has plans of His own, to set up his throne, when He returns.”  Amen Bob, AMEN!

Listen to the song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyhkNKCQEl4

As Americans we are all familiar with the famous words from the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I am extremely thankful to live in America.  To live in a country that guarantees (?) our rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  However I think the church in America needs to make a clear distinction between what is in the Declaration of Independence and what is in the Word of God, and not to get the two confused.  As great as they are, the life and liberty guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence is not on the same level as the life and liberty promised in God’s Word.

The Bible promises us a higher level of life and liberty.  Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and that more abundantly.”  He also said, “Whom the Son makes free is free indeed.”  Many other verses could be quoted to show that real life – eternal life and true spiritual freedom from sin and bondage  is a part of the gospel message and available to every Christian. 

But what about the “pursuit of happiness.”  Is that Biblical? 

I know I could lose some folks here, but hear me out.  I do not think it is necessarily so; at least not in the way most people think about happiness.  The Bible does not tell us to pursue happiness, the Bible tells us to “pursue…holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”  Hebrews 12:14.  It isn’t the unhappy person that misses God, it is the unholy person that does.

I can feel some frustration right about now from some readers.  “Doesn’t God want to bless His people?”  “Isn’t God a good God that wants the best for us?”  I can hear these and other arguments start to race through people’s minds – as they do mine.  The answer is a resounding YES! God is good!  God does want to bless His People!  However that IS NOT the issue here.  The issue is two fold: 1.  How we define happiness, and 2.  The issue of pursuing it.

There is a big difference between happiness and joy.  Happiness is emotional while joy is spiritual.  Happiness tends to be based on circumstances, joy is a fruit of the Spirit.  The word happy is used 25 times in the KJV version of the Bible.  Happiness is not used at all.  On the other hand joy is used 201 times and you can add another 53 instances for rejoice and rejoicing.  Does this illuminate the point I am trying to make?  When the Bible uses the term “happy” it generally means blessed, not some  “feel good” emotional state.  While blessings tend to make us feel good, it would be very wrong to assume that all happiness is godly or is a blessing from God.

 Too often Christians live their lives controlled by their emotions.  If things are going good they are HAPPY and have live a somewhat happy Christian life.  But if circumstances are not good, their Christianity tends to disappear also.  Their faith is based on how good things are going.  Their commitment is often in direct relationship to their fleshly happiness.  This should not be so.  God did not want us to live on an emotional rollercoster and call it spirituality.

On numerous occasions I have heard people justify sin and self-centeredness with the phrase, “Well I think God wants me to be happy, so I am going to _________.”  We have to ask the question, “Is our personal happiness God’s greatest concern?”  Can we justify anything we want to do with the mistaken idea that “God wants me to be happy?”" Somehow the 21st century American church has mixed up the Declaration of Independence with the Word of God.

I can honestly say that your emotional, fleshly happiness is not the highest item on God’s agenda.  Your personal holiness is, and to that end God will sometimes temporarily suspend those things that make us happy for the sake of making us holy.  It is a true saying, Jesus did not die on the cross to make us happy. He died on the cross to make us holy.  We are told to pursue holiness, not happiness.  The pursuit of happiness without holiness is where people miss the mark.  However the pursuit of holiness most often ends with our lives being truly blessed and filled with joy.

Does God want us to walk around moping, frowning and enduring all the time?  Absolutely not!  No way! Nada! Nine! (Go to this web site and you can learn how to say NO in over 250 languages
http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/no.htm)

God wants His people to experience joy, which is a fruit of the Spirit.  However God knows real joy comes from true holiness and holiness does not often make the flesh happy – in the beginning.  As Christians we have to be willing to move beyond emotional happiness to genuine spiritual joy.  It is only when we can do this that we will truly be happy, because our happiness will no longer be based on our circumstances, but rather on our relation with God that transcends this world.  Our joy is based in the belief that this life is temporary and we are not in it for what we get here, but what we get in eternity.  We are willing to endure hardships here that make others unhappy for the sake of the kingdom.  In other words our relationship with God is not directly based on how good things are for us in the flesh, but rather how much we love and trust God, knowing He loves us and has our very best in mind.  As we allow God to transform us the things that “make us happy” change too.

I once heard the president of a Holiness college say that true holiness didn’t have much to do with externals, but was loving God with all your heart, mind soul and strength. An inward love which reflected outwardly in how we lived our  lives.  True happiness (read that as joy complete) comes with true holiness.

Today’s blog takes more of a teaching form.  Not many Christians are aware that the week Jesus died there were three Sabbathdays in a  row.  As with all of God’s Old Testament ritual pictures, there is a significant coded message in this fact that many miss.  Let me explain.

Most Christians are vaguely aware of the weekly 7th day Sabbath.  However the Jews actually celebrated several other Sabbaths called “high holy days” throughout the year, in addition to the weekly Sabbath.  These days were: the Passover, The first and last day of the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets, more commonly known in the world as the Jewish New Year, then The highest and holiest day of the Jewish year – Yom Kippur otherwise known as the Day of Atonement, and the first and last day of the week long Feast of Tabernacles.

God built pictures or coded messages into all the Old Testament rituals and events in Israel’s history.  Just as Jesus taught in parables, God used Israel as a living parable to encode His truth.  God knew that interpretations and traditions would change through the years, but that the rituals would be preserved intact. For 1500 years Israel acted out the gospel message every time they kept the 7 yearly feasts. This is particularly significant at Passover.  There is a hidden picture here that few catch. 

Jesus died on a Thursday not a Friday. (Sorry to upset your applecart, but it is true.)  I understand the debate and the scriptural wranglings and church tradition, but Jesus said he was going to be in the grave three (3) days and 3 nights.  So, either Jesus is right and tradition is wrong or all the theologians are right and Jesus messed it up.  Hmmmmmmm, I think I’ll go with Jesus.

 A good friend of mine, Ron Ricley, always said, “Never buy a three day and three night cruise from a Christian travel agency because they will send you out late on a Friday afternoon and bring you back early Sunday morning.”  I am sure none of use would feel very satisfied with that arragement, if we paid for three days and nights, but we accept it without question regarding The Passion week because of tradition. Go figure!

Moving on …

Jesus died on the 14th day of the month, which was the day of Passover – a Thursday.  The Passover  was a High Sabbath day.  The next day, Friday (the 15th) , was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and thus a Sabbath day and the following day, Saturday (the 16th), was the regular weekly 7th day Sabbath.  Jesus then rose from the dead on the “1st day of the week” – or Sunday morning (the 17th).  The 17th day of the month was the Feast of Firstfruits.  We are plainly told in I Corinthians that Jesus is both our Passover and the Firstfruits from the dead.   God told them for 1500 years that Jesus was going to die as the Passover Lamb on the 14th day of the month and be raised from the dead on the 17th day of the month as the Firstfruits.  I find it difficult to believe that God missed it and Jesus was crucified on Friday the 15th.

You see there is only one time of the year that three Sabbath days occured in a  row: At Passover! When Jesus died.  (For a more thorough and facinating look at these and more hidden pictures in the Feasts, please listen to three audio messages: Introductiont to the Feasts, Pictures in the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  You can get all three here: http://www.c3mministries.com/audio.php)

The picture God gave us of the Sabbath was not just physical rest.  Specifically God said, “You shall do no servile labor.”  In other words the Sabbath wasn’t focused on resting, it was focused on not working.  While that seems like resting, the emphasis is different.  Mainly that the Old Testament Sabbaths served as a physical picture of a spiritual reality.  Much of the Church has missed this. Today the church tries to force a legalistic observance of the Sabbath, change the Sabbath to Sunday (which you can not Biblically do) or ignore it altogether.  All three of these are misinterpretations and misrepresentations of a significant spiritual truth.

The truth is that the Sabbath principle is about faith and obedience.  It was believing God and resting on God’s word.  That is why Jesus said, “Come to me all you that LABOR and are HEAVY LADEN and I will give you REST.  The first real Sabbath a person can experience is salvationa by faith, when they stop working for their salvation and place their faith in Christ.  It is not that they rest physically, it is that they CEASE LABORING for it.  We can’t earn it, or buy it. As Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God NOT OF WORKS lest any man should boast.” 

It is here that the issues of what day Jesus really died and the significance of the three Sabbaths  comes into play.  From the Time Jesus started the Passover – In the garden on Wednesday night (this was the 14th or Passover, since the Jewish day started at 6 in the evening) before His death, until “very early in the morning on the first day of the week,” no man could do any work.  This is the very reason the women waited until the 3rd day to tend to His body.  By God’s own law they could not work until the three Sabbaths had ended and they went at the earliest opportunity – very early in the morning. 

The picture God painted, although somewhat obscure, was simple – while man “ceased his labor” for three whole days, Jesus worked out our salvation in His own body on the cross  and in the grave.” 

While Jesus conquered “death, hell and the grave” men sat idle.  Men; religious men;  covenant men; men that feared God and practiced righteousness could not participate in the bringing about of eternal salvation.  They were sidelined with a command not to enter into any labor while God did the work of conquering sin and defeating death, hell and the grave. 

I hope you see the significance of this.  The scriptures tells us to “work OUT (not work FOR) your own salvation with fear and trembling,” .  We must remember that the principle of Sabbath rest still applies and is still available to Christians today; not the observation of a day, but the concept of placing our faith in God, ceasing from our own labors and trusting God to work a work in our lives, just like He said He would. 

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”  Hebrews 4:9-11 

In the early ninties my wife and I had a growing family.  Our kids were in the 8-12 age range.  I can not believe the amount of trash a family of 5 produces in a week.  I can’t even  believe the amount of trash Brooke and I produce now that we are empty nesters.  Back in those days we had one of those tall 13 gallon kithcen trash cans - you know the ones that take the “Glad Tall Kitchen” bags.  I am not sure why they call them Glad, I have never known anyone that was glad to take the trash out.  Maybe that was part of the subliminal marketing message:  “Hey use our Glad bags and you’re kids will be glad to take the trash out.”   But I digress.

One thing I was not glad about was that he trash can was always overflowing.  It became a source of  iritation for the whole household.  The kids had a schedule for doing chores, including emptying the trash can, but inevitibly it would never get done before it overflowed and not a single paper towel could be put in without stuff falling on the floor. 

Conversations around our house sounded like this:

Father to Child #1:  Who’s day is it to empty the trash?
Child #1:  It’s child#2′s day dad.
Father to child#2:  Why haven’t you emptied the trash?
Child #2: Well Child #3 was supposed to do it yesterday and didn’t so I shouldn’t have to.
Father to child #3:  Why didn’t you empty the trash yesterday?
Child #3:  Because it wasn’t full and you told us not waste bags if they were not full.

Don’t look at mne like that!  If you’ve never had those kinds of conversations you’re either 1: not a parent. or 2: graced with the best kids in the world. 

Finally I came up with a solution.  A radical solution.  One noone would have ever thought of.  I’m pretty sure it was divine revelation.  I bought a bigger trash can.  A 33 (count ‘em – 33) gallon one – with a lid.  Of course we had a hard time getting the 13 gallon bags to work, but it didn’t take me long to figure out I could buy 33 gallon bags and they would work just fine.

What is the purpose of this story, you might ask?  There is indeed a moral.  Recently in my various counseling duties I have run across people who present seemingly insurmountable problems (to them anyway).  They want God to change things, or situations, or others or simply to radically deliver them from some bad habit.

I have found myself repeating this story of the trash can multiple times.  Why?  Because many times the problems in our lives are changed by us making some adjustments to our flesh nature rather than expecting someone else to or to pass the problem off to God and then complain when He isn’t fixing stuff.

“Pastor, I don’t have enough money for food until the end of the month.  Pray God will bless me.”  (Or, more likely, “can I borrow some money.)  Solution:  Stop buying beer and cigerettes and going to bingo twice a month and you’ll save $300, have enough money for the last week’s worth of groceries and enough to take your kids out of icecream and spend some time with them.

Now, I am pretty sure that NO ONE reading this blog will have that problem.  However there are other things that are just as obvious in our lives. 

Do you have a problem getting anywhere on time?  Everyone is late on occassion, but someone who is ALWAYS late has a probem. Stop praying God will grant you an “on-time anointing” and make a necessary change in your life.  Find out WHY you are always late and come up with a solution.

Are you always running behind financially?  Look around and see where the money leaks are.  How many “toys” do you have sitting around that could be sold and some debt paid off to give you more monthly income?  Paying off one monthly bill means that money can be used to pay something else and before long you  have some breathing room.  Once again we look to God to change things around us when sometimes the changes are ones that we need to be made in our own lives first.  I realize there ar times and situations when there just isn’t enough income,  I have also lives through times like that and have discovered that if I disciplined myself that God would often make up the difference.  

At one point in my life (around the time of the trash can story) I was barely getting by as a pastor in a small midwestern church.  When I finally felt like God was telling me to sit down and keep track of my finances, checkbook and bills, I started seeing my overall debt drop from month to month and I still can not really explain why or how.

Husbands and wives can often make some minor changes and concessions in their marriage that would radically imrpove everything from communication to stress to intimacy.  I recently talked to a couple that had trouble relaying information to each other.  They worked opposite shifts.  Solution:  Buy a dry erase board, stick it on the fridge and leave each other daily notes on what was needed at the store or which kid needed to be where at what time.  An occassional love note wouldn’t hurt either.

Parents and kids can agree to do some things differently.  It might be as simply as having soup and sandwiches or letting the kids fix a simple meal one night a week so mom gets a break.  I knew one family that went to a drive through for breakfast on Sunday mornings so Mom wouldn’t be so stressed trying to get ready for church with several kids.  Maybe a kids night once a week or every other week would mean a world of difference in their behavior, because kids are starved for real time attention. 

We do not often think of these types of changes as spiritual, but they are.  The flesh does not like discipline – never has and never will.  However the Bible tells us, “we are not debtors to the flesh to obey its desires.”  Going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, cutting our unnecessary expenses, being more disciplined, etc., are all issues of controlling our flesh and that makes them spiritual.  In Galatians 5 we are told, “walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.”

There are as many applications to this message as there are people, families and relationships.  Look for a different solution.  The possibilites are endless, and they do exist. Habits can be hard to break and the status quo is always easier to maintain, however small changes can make big differences in our lives.

Take my advice, buy a bigger trash can, it can make all the difference in your life